Biodiversity: the interface between systematics and conservation.

The rapid development of interest inbiodiversity has provided unprecedented opportunities for interactions among disciplines. Although systematic biology and conservation biology have developed largely independently of one another, it is clear now from the burgeoning literature that conservation concerns can motivate systematic studies and that better knowledge of the systematics of organisms can provide critical information for the conservation and management of biodiversity. The most obvious need for systematics in conservation biology is that any study depends on the accurate identiŽcation and classiŽcation of organisms, a point clearly illustrated by the cover ofNature entitled, “Bad taxonomy can kill” (related to an article by May, 1990). We have assumed this basic premise and used this symposium to explore further interactions of systematics and conservation biology. This symposium brought together researchers fromawidevariety of Želds related to biodiversity and conservation to discuss the relevance of systematics to their research and to evaluate various techniques thatmake use of systematic data in conservation studies. The topic is timely because of the wealth of new technologies andmethods now available to incorporate both historical and recent systematic data into conservation planning tools, as well as the increased recognition of the importance of systematic and phylogenetic considerations in conservation biology. Several new journals (e.g., Biodiversity and Conservation, Diversity and Distribution) reect the greater interest in these areas. The purpose of this group of six papers is to present examples of new ideas on how information from systematic biology can be used in conservation studies and to encourage collaboration among disciplines. In-